


Alfonse Ran Away

by theshippingexpress



Category: Shall We Date?: Wizardess Heart+
Genre: Gen, Goldstein drama, Spoilers for Alfonse's route
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-09
Updated: 2018-10-09
Packaged: 2019-07-28 11:41:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16240895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theshippingexpress/pseuds/theshippingexpress
Summary: What happened when Alfonse left after Elaine? A little exploration of why Klaus might've been so angry.





	Alfonse Ran Away

**Author's Note:**

> So, Elias's sequel gave us a new perspective on the Goldstein family. This is my attempt to reconcile it all.

_'Alfonse has been awfully quiet today,'_ Klaus thought as he headed to Alfonse's room. His eldest brother hadn't been at breakfast that morning; he was usually the first to show up. But perhaps he had just overslept. He had been very busy with wedding preparations, after all.

The room was empty, the window thrown open. 'He's gone,' Klaus thought, a sinking pit rising up in his stomach,  _'he's gone-'_

No. He was not going to freak out; surely this had to be some mistake. He was Klaus Goldstein, and Klaus Goldstein did not freak out.

With all the calmness he could muster, he made his way back down to the dining hall. “Father,” he asked, “have you seen Alfonse?”

 

Three days. It had been three long days since Alfonse had vanished. For three days, the Goldsteins searched and searched and searched, but they found neither hide nor hair of the heir.

Klaus sat on his bed, hugging his knees, his mind racing a million miles per hour. 'He's gone,' Klaus thought,  _'he's gone- he's been kidnapped or taken, and I never got to say goodbye- and now I'll never get to see him again- what if he- he-'_

There was a knock on the door, and Klaus bolted to his feet. “Who is it?”

“Klaus?” His heart broke at the sound of Elias's strained voice. He opened the door, and he saw Elias's face was streaked with tears. “Klaus, I'm scared about Alfonse.”

“It'll be all right, Elias, I promise,” he said, pulling his younger brother close. It was not a promise that he could make.

_ 'Alfonse,'  _ he thought, _ 'please come home.' _

 

 

_'I made a mistake. I made a mistake-'_

Somewhere else, the Goldstein heir was hiding from his family's guards, wondering where it had all went wrong.

For once in his life, he had been given a choice, and he had made the wrong one.  _“Which is more important?”_ she had asked him. He knew the answer, he knew what he was supposed to say, but he could not say it. He had hesitated, and Elaine had broken it off.

It was his duty to marry her; his family was counting on him, and he had messed it up. How could he go back to his family now? How could he look his father in the eye when he had failed to do the one thing that his family needed him for?

It had been a spur of the moment decision- throwing open his window, grabbing as much as he could, fleeing into the night- and now he could not turn back.

_'I'm sorry, Klaus, Elias,'_ he thought. ' _You'll be better off without me.'_ In the end, he was nothing more than a disgrace.

 

Life went on, but it was never the same. Klaus threw himself into his studies to try to drown out the thoughts of what- who- was missing.

One day, Walter called his remaining sons in; his eyes were shining bright. “We found him,” he said. “My contacts in the Ministry said that he is in Gemuma right now. If I leave tomorrow, I'm sure that I can find him.”

Klaus's heart flipped; he hardly dared to hope- “You.. you found Alfonse?” he asked.

Walter nodded. “I'm going to bring him home, no matter what it takes,” he said.

Alfonse was alive. And soon, he'd be home. And Klaus allowed himself to finally have hope again that things would be all right.

 

Klaus hid as he listened to the yelling voices. He had heard those voices before, they were Elaine's parents. But were they doing here?

“Please, calm down. What happened?” 

“That brat of yours sent our daughter home in tears! We've placed our trust in you for all of these years, we've worked side by side, and your son breaks off the engagement a mere three months before the wedding! Is this the way that you repaid this?”

“My brother wouldn't do such a thing!” Klaus cried, storming into the room. He'd seen Alfonse and Elaine together, and he'd never treated her with anything less than the utmost respect.

“If your brother is so wonderful, where is he now?” the woman asked. “He probably ran away to avoid taking responsibility for his reactions.”

Ran away. He didn't want to believe it. “W-what day did you say this happened?” His heart sank as they told him the date, the day before Klaus had found his brother missing. And suddenly their words seemed not only possible- but probable.

_'No, it can't be. Alfonse wouldn't do that. He wouldn't just leave us like that.'_ He tried to convince himself, but it only sounded more and more hollow. 

Walter's eyes were cold. “Are we done here? If you'll excuse me, I have to find my son.”

 

Walter had a lead many times. He'd call in Klaus and Elias and say that he was sure that he'd find Alfonse this time, that he'd bring him home and they could all be a family again.

“I'll be gone for about a week,” Walter said that day. “When I come back, he'll be with me.”

A week. Klaus had a violin recital the very next day. He'd been practicing hard to impress his parents, to live up to the Goldstein name, and Walter wouldn't be there. His heart ached.

A part of him wished that his father could look at him, could see him, as much as he looked for Alfonse. Then again, Walter had never been this attentive to Alfonse when he'd been here. Maybe if he had, Alfonse wouldn't have-

“Yes, Father.”

Elias smiled up at him as they left. “Isn't this wonderful?” he asked. “Soon, we'll have Alfonse back.” Klaus couldn't bring himself to agree.

 

Everything had been going fine. It wasn't like back home, but he was settling in fine. He got to travel the world, and his companions didn't ask questions. To them, he was not the Goldstein heir, he was just Alfonse. And so three years passed, and everything was fine.

And then one day, the head of his caravan called out to him. “Alfonse, there's somebody here to see you.”

The blood froze in his veins as he saw Walter Goldstein waiting for him, standing outside of his carriage. After everything that happened with Elaine, he thought he'd never want to see him again.

Surprise flickered over Walter's face, and then he beamed. “Alfonse, it's really you! It's so good to see you again!” He got to his feet, patting him on the shoulder.

“Father,” he asked carefully, “what are you doing here?”

“I've come to bring you home,” he said as though it was as simple as that. “It took quite a while to find you, but it's time to go back home.” 

This must've been some cruel joke- or Walter didn't know what he had done. “I can't go back,” he said, stepping away. “I messed up. I was supposed to marry Elaine, but I-”

“I know about what happened with Elaine,” Walter said with distaste. “It is unfortunate, but nothing we can't fix.”

_'I'd only mess it up again,'_ Alfonse thought. He'd tried, oh, he tried, to be the perfect son, but he broke everything that he touched. His family had trusted him with one thing, and he'd ruined it.

At least out here, there was no such judgment. People didn't care if he was a Goldstein, they cared if he could do the work. And he did it well! Tending to plants, taking care of things, this he could do.

What he couldn't do was go back to being a Goldstein.

“Come along now, Alfonse,” Walter took Alfonse by the hand, leading him to the carriage. “Let's go home. Everyone's waiting for you.”

Alfonse yanked his hand away. “I will not go back!” he screamed, stepping away. “This is my life now. I cannot go back.”

Walter studied him for a moment, and his face was unreadable. Was he sad? Angry? He turned back to his carriage. “It appears you've made your choice then. I'll leave you to it.”

And just like that, he was gone. Alfonse watched him go for a moment, then he squared his shoulders and went back to work.

 

Walter came home empty-handed, but that was to be expected. Klaus felt sorry that he had ever gotten his hopes up.

“Don't worry,” he said as his father walked through the door, “I'm sure you'll find him soon.” He knew they were empty words, but it was all he could say.

“No,” Walter said. “I found Alfonse. He's alive and safe.”

He hadn't realized how much it meant to hear those words. All that time, he had been expecting never to see his brother again, to find out that he had been in peril, to find out too late, but he was alive. “Father, where is he?”

“He was traveling with the Ministry, and he seemed to be happy there. He didn't want to come back with me."

His heart fell. And he thought of all the nights of worry, of praying that he could see his brother again. He thought of all the fear he'd held in his heart, of all of the tears he'd shed over Alfonse. And all of it.. all of it had come to this.

All of the time that Walter had spent, devoted, to finding his eldest son, ignoring the ones who had stayed home. Klaus had been faithful, dutiful, but it didn't matter.

And it finally clicked what he had seen that morning, when he'd seen the window thrown open. His brother had not been stolen away; he had run away.

Alfonse was alive and safe. He had always been safe. He just wanted nothing to do with them anymore.

“How dare he?!” he snarled. “Does he have any idea what he put us through? All so he could-”

“Klaus.” He looked down to Elias's pleading eyes. “I know that you're angry, but shouldn't we just be happy our brother is alive?"

Klaus had done everything that his family asked him to do, no matter how hard it hurt. He had  _stayed,_ when Alfonse hadn't. What right did Alfonse have to share what he'd work so hard for?

“No,” he snarled. “He is not our brother anymore. That is the choice he made, when Alfonse ran away.”

 

 


End file.
